BMO removes fees for card payments on public transit across Canada

Public transit riders across Canada who use a debit card linked to the Bank of Montreal (BMO) to pay their fare won’t have to worry about having this frequent type of transaction counting towards their monthly transaction count limit.

This new ability for unlimited use covers all debit transactions with BMO on public transit, including those made by retail and commercial customers. BMO customers will not have to keep count of their number of transactions on public transit to avoid fees when they go over the limit.

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“In this economic environment, we are seeing that significantly fewer Canadians feel they are making real financial progress with particularly steep declines in city centres such as Toronto and Vancouver. This feature will help ease worries about transaction count limit fees and let customers focus on their financial goals and staying on budget,” said Gayle Ramsay, head of everyday banking, segments, and customer growth for BMO, in a statement.

William Keliehor, chief commercial officer of Interac, added: “We welcome BMO’s decision to make transit use easier and more convenient by making all debit transactions free of charge.”

While this capability is nationwide, it will be particularly convenient for public transit riders on the major systems of TransLink in Metro Vancouver — where the Compass system enables debit and credit cards to be tapped on card readers — and on various systems across Greater Toronto. Later this year, the TTC will be the latest system to gain debit and credit card tapping capability on Metrolinx’s Presto devices.